Penn State has spent two seasons in the second or third tier of the Big Ten, passed by Michigan State, Iowa and Wisconsin, and lapped several times over by conference powers Ohio State and Michigan.
Hopes that this year will find the Nittany Lions back near the top of the league and in the mix for the New Year's Six aren't necessarily validated by Thursday's 35-31 win at Purdue, one of the top teams from the Big Ten West.
But in escaping what would have been a colossal setback to start the season, PSU stayed on course to compete for a major bowl, avoided a burgeoning quarterback controversy and pulled out the sort of narrow win that eluded last year's team.